The Alliance of Women Film Journalists, in which our own Melissa Silverstein is a member, has announced their Best-of-2013 list.
The big takeaway? Female critics have more or less the same tastes as their male counterparts, a fact that makes these numbers totally outrageous. A few categories, like the Best Film and Best Director categories, have no women nominees at all. The only non-actress group to be dominated by women is Best Documentary, in which three of the five selections are from female filmmakers.
But, of course, the thrill of the AWFJ results are the Special Mentions, which include fun but important categories like Best Actress Defying Age and Agism, the Kick Ass Award for Best Female Action Star, and the Most Egregious Age Difference Between the Leading Man and the Love Interest Award. (It feels like Tom Cruise is a lock for this prize every year that he makes a movie, no? Maybe they should give him a Lifetime Achievement award for it next year.)
The AWFJ picks are in three parts: the “Best Of” categories, the Female Focus awards, and the Special Mentions:
AWFJ BEST OF AWARDS
BEST SCREENPLAY, ORIGINAL
Enough Said — Nicole Holofcener
BEST DOCUMENTARY
After Tiller — Martha Shane and Lana Wilson
Blackfish — Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Stories We Tell — Sarah Polley
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Frozen — Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett — Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock — Gravity
Judi Dench — Philomena
Brie Larson — Short Term 12
Emma Thompson — Saving Mr. Banks
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Sally Hawkins — Blue Jasmine
Scarlett Johanson — Her
Jennifer Lawrence — American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o — 12 Years a Slave
Oprah Winfrey — Lee Daniels’ The Butler
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
12 Years A Slave
American Hustle
August: Osage County
Lee Daniels’ The Butler
Nebraska
BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM
Wadjda — Haifaa Al-Mansour — Saudi Arabia
EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS — These awards honor WOMEN only.
BEST WOMAN DIRECTOR
Lake Bell — In A World
Gabriele Cowperthwaite — Blackfish
Nicole Holofcener — Enough Said
Jennifer Lee — Frozen
Sarah Polley — Stories We Tell
BEST WOMAN SCREENWRITER
Lake Bell — In A World
Julie Delpy — Before Midnight
Nicole Holofcener — Enough Said
Jennifer Lee — Frozen
Sarah Polley — Stories We Tell
KICK ASS AWARD FOR BEST FEMALE ACTION STAR
Sandra Bullock — Gravity
Jennifer Lawrence — The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Chloe Grace Moretz — Kick Ass 2
BEST ANIMATED FEMALE
Anna (Kristen Bell) in Frozen
Eep (Emma Stone) in The Croods
Elsa (Idina Menzel) in Frozen
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Brie Larson, Short Term 12
Lupita Nyong’o 12 Years A Slave
Shailene Woodley, The Spectacular Now
ACTRESS DEFYING AGE AND AGISM
Sandra Bullock — Gravity
Judi Dench — Philomena
Meryl Streep — August: Osage County
AWFJ FEMALE ICON AWARD (Presented to an actress for the portrayal of the most positive female role model, or for a role in which she takes personal and/or career risks to plumb the female psyche and therefore gives us courage to plumb our own, and/or for putting forth the image of a woman who is heroic, accomplished, persistent, demands her rights and/or the rights of others.)
Sandra Bullock for the strong, capable and very positive female image presented in Gravity.
Angelina Jolie for continued commitments to humanitarian causes, and for promoting awareness about breast cancer.
Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle and Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and for handling her high degree of celebrity extremely well.
THIS YEAR’S OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT BY A WOMAN IN THE FILM INDUSTRY (Presented only when warranted to a female who has had a banner-making, record-breaking, industry-changing achievement during any given year — such as Kathryn Bigelow’s Best Director Oscar win, or for an actress having multiple outstanding films released during one year.)
Haaifa Al-Mansour for challenging the limitations placed on women within her culture.
Cheryl Boone Isaac for becoming President of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Jahane Noujaim for risking life and limb to document the Egyptian revolution in The Square
EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS
AWFJ HALL OF SHAME AWARD
The Counselor — Ridley Scott
Grown Ups 2 — Dennis Dugan
Movie 43 — Elizabeth Banks, Steven Brill, Steve Carr, Rusty Dundieff, James Duffy, Griffin Dunne, Peter Farrelly, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham, James Gun, Brett Ratner, Jonathan van Tulleken, Bob Odenkirk
ACTRESS MOST IN NEED OF A NEW AGENT
Cameron Diaz, The Counselor
Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgins, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine — Spring Breakers
Melissa McCarthy — Identity Thief, The Heat
MOVIE YOU WANTED TO LOVE BUT JUST COULDN’T AWARD
All is Lost
Blue Is The Warmest Color
The Counselor
UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT AWARD (SPOILERS)
Gravity — George Clooney reappears
12 Years A Slave — Patsy pleads for soap
Her — Phone sex sequences
Nebraska — “That’s not my air compressor”
12 Years A Slave — Solomon hanging
BEST DEPICTION OF NUDITY, SEXUALITY, OR SEDUCTION AWARD
Blue Is The Warmest Color — Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos
Her — Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix
The Spectacular Now — Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller
SEQUEL OR REMAKE THAT SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN MADE AWARD
Carrie
Grown Ups 2
The Hangover
Kick Ass
Oz, Great and Powerful
MOST EGREGIOUS AGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LEADING MAN AND THE LOVE INTEREST AWARD (SPOILERS)
August: Osage County — Dermot Mulroney and Abigail Breslin
The Invisible Women — Ralph Feinnes and Felicity Jones
Last Vegas — Michael Douglas and Bree Blair
The Lifeguard — Kristen Bell and David Lambert
Oblivion — Tom Cruise and Andrea Reisborough/Olga Kurylenko
